


Lifilia

by Birdwhohatesbirds



Category: None - Fandom
Genre: Gen, Lifilia, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:27:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28339191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Birdwhohatesbirds/pseuds/Birdwhohatesbirds
Summary: A young woman who's a supposedly dead princess wants to fix her corrupt kingdom, to do so she must fight a force unknown to her, and gain allies who's trust she can't afford to lose. All is at stake, and she needs one godamn miracle to get through.





	1. A memory in the wind.

**Author's Note:**

> This chapter may be unsuitable for those triggered by:  
> • mentions of dxxth  
> • mentions of snakes  
> • mentions of nightmares.  
> • explicit mention of shxrp teeth.

Memory.

Memory is always a fickle little bitch. It likes to take it's jab at you, no matter who you are, or what you've been, or who you were about to become. It takes itself in many forms, sometimes it's as beautiful as a new blooming flower in a waste land, at other times it's realising the branch you gripped onto for dear life was a cobra pointing it's sharp teeth towards you. Maybe it sucks the life out of you, for whatever reason, you almost feel too helpless to stop it as the shadow of your past hones in circling you restricting your own movement. Yet in a sudden succession of movements, you're being dragged down under, under where no one can hear your cries or your screams. The innocence before that time of that horrid memory practically being snatched from you, no mercy, no pity, only your memory's dead, unforgiving eyes.

Or so was the case for Rublina Lifilia.

Prouncing awake, practically throwing her blankets within her fear, reality did not stabilise until maybe a couple of moments. Her vision slowly settled down, along with both of her heartbeats. Nothing happened... not yet anyway. Glancing outside her window she quickly picked up that it must've been early morning, at least around 5am. The cold damp air was quick to hug her as she frantically threw the blanket she slept in earlier over her bare shoulders and peered out of her window. The dark shadows comforting her as she let out her breath that she was holding really became something that pacified her. Darkness was eternal throughout all space and time, to fear the dark was to fear the unknown, but to accept the dark, that was accepting the unknown and making friends with it. 

She sighed, retreating from her window, it was truly a beautiful sight, too bad she couldn't see it during the daytime because someone had a successful inn. She'd been living with her cousin and his parents since she was 5, now they were both alone running the inn, in the end, everyone was alone, were they not?

"....You're awake?"  
A soft voice whispered from amongst the shadows, and speak of the goddess of death Yuborin, it was her cousin himself.  
"Oh- Alexsis-"  
She responded in the same soft whispery tone as her taller cousin slowly came closer, his blue eyes glowing within the dark, in contrast to his dark skin blending into the dark.  
"Sorry... I just heard someone breathing heavy coming from your room."  
"Well damn man would it hurt to knock? What if I was giving fucking birth huh?"  
The taller man rolled his eyes, crossing his arms.  
"Rublina, you know I'm not here to play games."  
"Oh no! I just brought my cards out Alexsis why didn't you say so?!"  
"I mean it."  
"...Fine. What do you want anyway?"  
"I... uhm... I-I wanted to see if you're okay."


	2. Concern

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A concern of a cousin barely pierces through a rough exterior.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning for:  
> • mention of violence.

"You're concerned? About me?"  
The young woman's eyes widened, never has her cousin come to her room at 5am just to say he's concerned. At least... not unless it was- 

Oh.

It was that day.

That day that memory imprinted itself on her brain, mocking her for the rest of her eternity. It wasn't like she was weak! She just... she just thought the day came way too soon, very soon, soon enough to punch her in the face and knock out a tooth type of soon. Soon enough that the memory that leeched off of her hapiness, squeezing herself dry-

"Ruby? Rublina!"  
Snapping in her face, concern filled his own as he started to ramble on about how Rublina needed to tell him if she was not okay in any way shape or form.

Alexsis wasn't one to have a good poker face, not in the slightest. His heart truly was too pure.

Alexsis was the type of guy who acted more like a puppy than anything else, that suprised many people, including Rublina herself. Her cousin did not look caring in the slightest, he was more well known as the single bachelor who looked like a pirate, or to specify even further- one of the only poweless lifilians, an underdeveloped power that never ever came into fruition and never will. It was clear just by looking at him, the water lifilian in him would never truly shine. His ears were long and pointed, they could've turned into fins yet they stayed as ears only. The random patches of green or blue skin never graced his face, although on his neck were slightly blue scales, outnumbered by the soft skin on the rest of him. Even though he was underdeveloped he was at an above average height for a male lifilian, around 15'6 specifically. All of that paired with both his angry gaze and dagger tightly held within his hand made him one of the most scariest men in the village, but there was some sort of allure to him that Rublina never understood, anytime she heard of her cousin were mostly people fawning over his jaw or his nose. 

Lifilians, rich or poor, were confusing.

"RUBY!"  
He now clapped in her face, slightly raising his voice, it made her pay attention but it did not once make her flinch.  
"Did you even listen to anything I said..?"  
He had puppy eyes as he looked off to the side mumbling out his sentences.  
"Of course Lexie y'know I always hear you clearly,"  
She spoke more loudly, a deadpan expression on her face.  
"Why don't you yell louder, for the whole inn to hear?"  
"Right I... I'm sorry..."  
"Hey don't apologise, I get where your concern is coming from really, it is well... that day."  
"...will you be okay?"  
The young woman looked up at her tall cousin, just so she could look at him directly in the eye,  
"Of course I will Lexie,"  
She smiled smugly punching his arm gently,  
"After all, it's been maybe around... 19 years now?"  
Her cousin's expression never changed as he softly rubbed where Ruby punched.  
"I suppose but..."  
"Oi, trust me I'll be okay. You worry about yourself for once Lexie!"  
She was practically pushing her cousin out of her room, she was absolutely tiny, yet very strong.  
"But!"  
"But you need a good night's rest! Sweet dreams you big fuck!"

She slammed the door shut and dropped to the floor as she heard Alexsis walk away,  
"I've... always been fine. I'll be okay today too... right mother?"  
Her voice shook as she talked to no-one in particular. 

Today would be a long day. He was right to be concerned.


	3. That day.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> That day, she had to ignore her nerves about that day, it was the sane as any other day, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a huge description

But, as her cousin did say, she was not okay. She was never okay on this day. She preffered to hide within her room. To block out the noise. To hide within some sort of dream world where she would not and could not hear the prince's annual speech from within his box, playing out on speakers only used yearly for that one purpose. No. She had absolutely no care for what he said. She could not be bothered to care with his fake words. They should've at least gotten the man who approved of the damn sentence given to her- her father- King Falcon. But he was so caught up in his grief he wasn't even sorry. He was never sorry. That's maybe what hurt her the most. 

Now though, she had to be there. Blending within the rest, looking up at her brother's eyes- or well- the prince's eyes as he glazes over the crowd, only seeing a number. Nothing more, nothing less. That's what she'd be hoping for, in the best case scenario... 

She sighed once more, grunting as she got up, an injury still fresh from yesterday laid waste upon her stomach, she'd need to rebandage that. Urgently. Her room was quite small and cramped only containing a long narrow mirror- one of the luxuries you could get inside that village, a small wardrobe that was clearly loved enough to be used alot, it was't the best really but it served it's limited purpose, and a single matress upon the floor adorned with home-made blankets crafted by herself, the sun light or moonlight always shining in on them. A small medical kit stood in front of the mirror, filled with fresh bandages and other necessities that were too expensive for a household like theirs- so they were stolen. But she would never say that to her sweet cousin Lexie, he would lecture her upon her morals, not like she didn't already have messed up morals since she left the palace but oh well. A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

Bandaging the wounds that are healing, the young woman looked in the mirror, the light of sunrise shone in just enough for her to see her reflection, the princess' reflection. Her hair was the most brilliant shade of scarlet, more vibrant when she wasn't doing what she's doing but she didn't care. Usually her hair was up in a bun or a braid dipped in black soot from the chimney to cover up the red, easy to cover up and away from everyone's sight, from her own sight even- but at this current moment in time it hung in large corkscrew reaching to the floor when she stood up, as if a fire was reaching up high. She thought about cutting it but in her situation one false move such as one cut hair revealing itself to be curly and red guranteed a home raid, and possibly even her own discovery and capture. It was stupid and pointless but hey, that was the life of everyone higher up who were so paranoid in this kingdom. Her hair veiled over one of her eyes, the young woman looking in the mirror had heterochromnia, one large dark black left eye and one large whitish silver eye, both with the typical white scleras. An eye colour only the first born in her family had. A sure giveaway under any circumstance. So she covered it with eyepatches of cotton, with her hair and the like, or she purely claimed that eye was blind. A beautiful young woman, she was short- yet beautiful. She was considered a dwarf within her species, a woman with a stunted growth, only standing around 8 feet tall. Her face was dainty, if she ever dressed herself up, but she was purely focused on helping others instead. 

She looked at her reflection with disgust, finishing her bandaging. Today was not a day to look like herself. 

She dressed herself within her usual black old crop tank top and brown mid thigh shorts she wore underneath her equally dark baggy shirt and pants slightly too long for her legs, dark and rolled up, the bottom of the pants always stained with mud and dirt. She wore it to hide her feminine figure, if a lord ever saw her actual body they may be enticed. The thought disgusted the red headed woman. She wanted to remain a mystery, to make people doubt if they ever even saw her. Placing the uncomfortable eyepatch on her eye was no feat, although, the material was the most itchy synthetic material known to her kind. Tying her hair was a tad bit more difficult, it was really thick and some of it had matted up from neglect. But just like anything else in her life, she didn't care. She didn't own a hairbrush anyway, she didn't need to. Once she tied it up then came the black once disgustingly gross stuff from the chimney, now normalised within her life pasted onto her hair to conceal the beautiful blood red colour of it. Ontop resting on her head was a baggy cloak, useless within the wind but today was gonna be a sunny day, lest the winds of nature betray her. So it would do. That, was the outcast princess' outfit for today. The same as any other day. Yeah.


	4. Downstairs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A normal day for the young woman, at least she's trying to make it a normal day for her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Contains mention of dxxth once.

Leaping down the old, wooden, creaky staircase, the young woman noted that none of the usual guests within the inn had woken up yet, good. Regardless of her feelings about this conflicting day, she was an innkeeper first and foremost. So, she went further down the steps, into an old kitchen within the basement, it seemed like something out of earth's times, when humans still roamed. A old large brick oven stood to the wall right next to the woman as she walked in, a large fire pit stood next to the oven's left- the young woman being on the oven's right. The flames within the pit roared loudly, almost a little too loudly for comfort, as the breakfast ahead of them was being prepared for. In front of the disguised woman stood a large table, usually meant for feasts but perfect for just cooking and baking large amounts of orders too. Ontop of the large surface were multiple ingredients, mostly fruits, some tons of bags of bread, milk, and butter. In a little village like this you wouldn't expect anything like meat, in fact, just having fruit felt like a luxury. 

As the young woman picked up something that ressembled an orange she swiftly and quietly thanked the gods that she was powerful enough to not eat, and almost on cue her co-worker the powerless lifilian came down, famished, gratefully scarfing down the orange she offered him. That was just how lifilians worked, she didn't need to digest because she gained her energy from all the heat produced in her body constantly, as a strong power lifilian she ran on mostly fire, however Alexsis never ran on power, he still relied on glucose. Strange, wasn't it? Yet, still so fascinating... 

Throwing the fruits peel within the tiny compost bin Alexsis turned to the shorter woman, his eyes filled to the brim with worry and glossy with concern,  
"I... thought you needed more time honestly-" he spoke, his voice as gentle as a river passing peacefully by.  
"You thought wrong then," the woman replied in a cool manner cutting through his words, slicing up whatever food needed to be prepared beforehand.  
"...I think you misunderstood what today is-"  
"The day the prince gives his annual speech yes, I know."  
"No- my friend, they're announcing the prince's corronation this week."  
"..."  
The exiled princess paused.  
"And whoever told you that?"  
"...don't you remember? Last week? They said prince William would be crowned king- as per the current king's request."  
"I was asleep."  
"Oh, I'm not too suprised then, honestly, but... are you okay?"

The young woman underneath her hood was furious, absolutely furious, her brother didn't do shit and now he's out here claiming what was her birth right?! She did more as a commener than he could do as an acting king. It was absolutely outrageous. But, she could never let Alexsis know that, he'd just worry even more about her, and he doesn't deserve more on his plate. Calmly she unclenched her jaw.

"Of course, why wouldn't I be?"  
She attempted to keep her composure, however, the bitter tone laced within her voice was apparant, Lexie knew she was making a disgusted expression under her hood without even glancing at her face. 

Yet, before Alexsis could even utter a word out of his mouth, the loud patrons of the inn's footsteps was more than enough to alert the duo that service had started. No time for thoughts and feelings, as per usual. Lexie could never break into that hard shell of his cousin's and, honestly, he might as well have given up by now. But, there was a certain likeness to Lexie a certain type of optimism, a certain type of hope that he'd forever cling on that was endearing to his cousin. That hope may have been the only thing that had kept her sane during her darkest times, but she'd never tell him that. Nor would he ever tell her that her calm nature and realism, although frustrating at times, proved to provide comfort to him throughout his 26 years of life.

But, right now? There was an inn to run.

Lexie bolted upstairs as per usual, whilst his cousin laid low in the kitchen, cooking whatever order Lexie had yelled towards her. In this kingdom called Lifilia, education didn't exist, and many people like Alexsis were illiterate, it was present within some lifilian's names spelt incorrectly, like his own. His cousins name however, well, no one knew her name besides Alexsis, anyone else who knew of her thought she was dead. She was mostly known as "The Cloaked Woman", a robin hood kind of figure of sorts. Everyone who was a regular in the inn knew both Lexie and The Cloaked Woman or, well, Lexie's cousin. Lexie had the kind of charity within his heart to let the poor stay and live within his inn in return for work, Lexie's cousin had the charity of stealing from the rich so no one within this miserable kingdom would die of famine, disease, or just so they wouldn't resort to her methods of survival. 

Order, after order, after order, they rolled in. One pie. Some toast maybe? Who knows? She doesn't let the orders loom over her thoughts. They're there. One after the other. No thoughts entered her head, her brain emptied itself out, just to make sure that every, order, was completed to perfection. No, she didn't know these people at all and, no, she didn't she didn't know what their lives were like. Maybe they got fired from a job, maybe something bad happened to them, maybe they got a promotion, maybe today would be the happiest day within their miserable life- but, her duty was to serve these people as if they were kings, queens, or any other type of monarchy. Even outside her work, she would treat everyone like royalty, she'd treat others how she would've expected to be treated around 19 years ago.


	5. The Importance of a Speech

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bad news is broken to Henrion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning:  
> • sxlf hxrm

Henrion quickly snapped out of it to face his aunt, the blank expression on his face not even coming close to the fear he felt within his soul, her words echo'ed around the room, prouncing off the walls and shooting into his eardrums shattering them. She just had a really scary voice, at least, that's how it seemed like to Henrion.

"Yes ma'dam..?" Henrion replied quietly, keeping his eyes glued to her shoes, he couldn't let her see his fear, he knew she fed off it.  
"My dear nephew, you do know what today is correct..?" Her tone shifted in an instant, a fake smile plastered on her face, the atmosphere seemed as sickly as the perfume she wore, Henry never understood how she could breathe in that toxic cloud of fragrance.  
"....The princess' memorial ma'dam." He replied, his voice sounding more reassured, "I'm presenting the speech for her today, I couldn't forget."   
"Well," she started, instantly switching back to her sharp tone "my dear nephew that may... not be possible..." her voice tried ever so hard to sound understanding, yet, her face and vocal chords did not twitch even 1 milimetre. "The council have decided it's better for Emeralda to present such a speech." 

Henry froze in his place, light blue eyes staring at his aunt in disbelief. He stuttered barely getting his words out. He'd been preparing for this day for months, how could she just take it away?! In the end only one word could be said, "Why?" He trembled, "Why did you do this my Lady?" His emotionless calm exterior quietly crumbled, leaving a growing smirk on his aunt's unnervimg visage, although that was mostly obscured by the mask of her fake emotions on her face. He knew right in that moment he had let her win into her mental games, he knew what was coming next.

"Because, my dear nephew," she started, edging closer towards the young prince, "You're simply... how should I put this? Your words that I've looked over have been deemed to be unacceptable, as well as your voice being too quiet to hear. It'd be best for your sister Emeralda to take over this year. She's a strong figure amongst every, single, person, trying to tear us down here. Do you not think as such? You are a smart boy so surely..." her hand gently planted itself on Henrion's shoulder, the seeds sprouting out of her palms growing upwards into Henrion's. She controlled anyone's mind if they showed weakness like he did. "N...please not..." he tried desperately to escape whatever she was going to make him do, but his efforts led to no avail. "Yes, my lady, it is a wise choice." As soon as she got verbal confirmation she drew her hand back towards herself, as if she picked up some rotten food or the like. 

"Lovely!" She exclaimed, "Oh, my dear nephew, please don't get me wrong, I still do want you there, or at least, half way there there. Oh! You will join us will you not Henrion? For the... poor princess' honour?" She hesitated upon the word poor, every sibling Henry ever had knew that Viridian hated the princess from the moment she was born, she had an unbreakable spirit their aunt could never quite get a hold of. Practically scowling the thoughts away, Viridian looked towards Henry's response, there was never any other answer than yes with her, so he reluctantly agreed, his heart sinking low, yet, with that answer, she finally went away.

Henrion sighed a shaky sigh of breath and relief, even if he didn't show it, he was terrified of his aunt. She was a monster to him. Someone he loved. Someone who was untrustworthy. Tears slowly prickled down his dark face, dropping to the floor. His knee trembled yet, he was relived. Maybe he could... no. Pushing it with Viridian was never an option for him, she always reminded him how disposable he was, a powerless prince.

Henry looked outside his window where it poured. It was always ironic how the sky cried when he did in his opinion, maybe the clouds empathised with him but, that was wishful thinking. He was always a dreamer really, but he couldn't stay here moping around, the sun started to rise. He had to get ready for his daily sparring session with his sister Emeralda and get his ass beat again.

Quickly drying off his tears, he went into the bathroom to bathe and get ready for the day. Looking at himself in one of the countless mirrors he owned, he noted that well, it was the same old Henry. He had long black dreadlocks that reached down a little past his knee, swinging around softly as he walked, it did not frame his dark face, however it illuminated his aquamarine eyes, eyes so pale in colour they practically glowed. His skin was silky smooth, disregarding the rare saphire clusters of his skin where chromatic scales grew, shifting from a light lavender to blueberry. Henrion scowled at the sight of them picking up a pair of tweezers and plucking each individual scale out. To anyone not of a water lifilian origin this wouldn't seem odd, however t water lifilians such as Henrion it was like pulling teeth with every single scale. It hurt. But for him it needed to be done. Henry was a water lifilian, sure, but he never got his water manipulation abillities at all. Having sparkling scales was just another sign to him of something he'll never be, he would always stay as Henrion, the imperfect prince.

Nothing could ever change that.

He decided to stop being pitiful for himself and strided back into his room, he snuck up to the door glancing out to see if anyone was around as he set down a little bug like device to crawl around the outside of his room. Henry may not be the strongest but, boy, was he the smartest. In a world where things such as paper did not exist, Henrion was way ahead of his time, much to the dismay of his aunt. He wasn't quite sure what he made half of the time, but this particular gizmo helped him keep an eye out gor his aunt, the little bug like widget recieved an image somehow and transferred it to his other small rectangular widget that showed it to Henrion on his screen. His aunt called his inventions unorthodox and creepy, however Henrion thought they were pretty cool.

Speaking of cool...

Henry had already scoped out the area outside his room in order to see the real cool person- well- being. For near his nightstand was a block of wall like no other, marked with a golden egg, standing out agaisnt the lapis walls, however it was not strange enough to arouse attention seeing how the young prince had gold accents around his room. He swiftly pressed his back agaisnt the wall and pushed his right arm on the corner, his left arm unfortunately was missing, he didn't know how or why it was no longer attatched to him, he wasn't born like this he just... could not remember. But he didn't really care if he couldn't remember, he could just make new memories now!

Finally, with a heavy heave Henrion got the narrow wall to spin, the wall was a work in progress but it worked for now, he could enter his private room. 

This room had a colour scheme quite similar to his room that he slept in, except it contained walls of clay, a big desk lit by candle light when Henrion was present, and his most treasured possesion. He said possesion but homestly, it was more like a friend for about 11 years of his life. Of course- under narural circumstances his possesion could barely survive one year with him- his possesion was a relic of the old ancient times, where a human year was much shorter to a lifilian year, the difference, Henry calculated, was that 1 lifilian years was equal to 10 human years. Of course, this wouldn't do at all, so Henry decided to go even deeper within his regular research and found out how to make his friend survive for around 20 more lifilian years or so. He relished in every single second spent.

Glazing over whatever research he did for his friend on his desk, he heard a ckucking, a clucking that gradually got louder and louder. Henrion smiled, he knew who it was. Crouching down and turning around he was greeted none other than William the chicken herself! His most treasured companion, a feathery, fluffy, clucking friend. A hidden treasure within this bastardly place originally a joke gift from Henry's brother William, William the chicken was a safe space for Henry, no worries, no royal standards, only a sweet clucking chicken. He hid her from everyone's sight such as Lady Viridian except of course his siblings: Emeralda William and Chris. Aunt Viridian hated that her nane was William the chicken- or- well- that she was based upon the actual lifilian William who she still called Amythest, a name that William considered not his own. These constant clashes were the reason that Henry locked up William the chicken here, of course, she was allowed outside but only in places Viridian never roamed. It was better for the chicken in the long run. 

Scooping up a handful of seed and laying it down, Henry decided he'd best get ready and to not be caught up in the mystery of the chicken.

Henry kept his general sparring armor within this room, lest his aunt stole it to declare he could not fight. It was simple enough just a chest plate and arm armor, there was minimal armor in terms of his legs, he only really had this set in case his sister's attacks were more fatal than she was allowed to let on. He decided to equip a new weapon he had finished around a week prior, it was a weapon that utilised the feet, mostly a close range weapon that required a lot of kicking, the soles of the weapon shoes being attatched to a chain with blades strewn upon it, dealing damade if he could just get in one kick. Maybe, just maybe,his aunt wouldn't see him as that useless, however that was all just wishful thinking. He should actually...

"Henrion," a less posh voice called out from behind him.


End file.
